9to5: Days in Porn (2008)

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

You want to have a career in the porn industry? This documentary can show you how you could do that. Important is to be in the US, the country of all possibilities, specifically in California, in Los Angeles, there is the heart of the world's porn. The documentary introduces us in everyday lives of several porn stars, shows us their family life, they explain what motivated them to become actors, actresses, directors, producers, agents of the porn genre. The common denominator: money, fame and pleasure for real sex. But, is it really real? No, it isn't. It's just very profitable. What the film do not explain is why people need porn. Because it is a real crazy demand. Porn artists make billions of dollars, they have their own awards (Oscar equivalent), etc., just check their credits here on IMDb...

Some years back I watched the 'Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends'' crew visit The San Fernando Valley and The San Andreas Valley; CA., by appointment, to a behind-the-scenes of a gay-porn movie set. By the end of the segment Theroux asked one of the sex performers whether he was gay or bi sexual. The answer he gave was nothing short of a second or two on the 'Ol' Sparky'; 'I'm straight.' He said while getting on his 'Cannondale Mountain' and putting on a shiny blue headgear. Theroux did not say anything, but the guy saw his face and said, 'I make 3,500 an hour, that's probably more than you make in a week.' Then he rode off.The porn industry is worth a sweet twenty billion USD; annual, with an intricate and detailed distribution network for thousands of DVDs being made yearly; that, compared to how much material is being made and what is in it, brings up concerns when the filmmakers go to the office (made of mahogany lumber) of the AVN President, Paul Fishbein. He does not seem too happy about the independent 'porn pickets' being formed and sold with labels like Vivid, Elegant Angel, etc.The documentary introduces the main players to us in a Pop Culture manner, which is nice to watch and a relief from watching complex tales being unfolded. You see a performer getting ready (read: rectal examination) for a scene, speaking straight into the camera and wincing at times (we hear the gloved examiner apologize and say strange things in the back), and it cuts to the same performer in a glamour pose with her name and title on the top left. Names like; Sasha Grey, Mark Spiegler, Belladona, Otto Bauer accompanied with a title, like 'The Rookie' or 'The Professional, 'The Legend', The Pimp', et al.The movie shows you the money, the big houses previously owned by Hollywood stars, the parties in those houses. It only hints at drug abuse and tells us a tale of a 70's porn starlet who was raped by a fan and decided to leave the industry and become a doctor, Dr Sharon Mitchell. She runs AIM and offers all sort of treatment and advice to people in porn or those who want to join. It also shows us young women doing porn to pay off their college tuition or simply to have the time of their lives, if even only for a few years.It gives us a psychological yet an objective view of the inside (you get to hear some outlandish reasons for entering porn), where sex and money and glamour reign but those also happen to be the entrance to a tunnel whose other end opens to nothingness.It shows the girls being forced to 'do more'. In other instances, the girls are said to have not been informed of the nature of the scene (anal, bondage, interracial) but do not protest, being new to the sharks and the money and all that melodrama. As a matter of fact these beautiful yet mostly tormented people know that they are isolated from society because of what they do, yet they try and make their lives as close to normal as possible. The film shows some of the most gorgeous women who perform extreme sexual acts, filling gas, rocking their baby to sleep, buying grocery, getting penetrated by four well-hung African Americans as the husband or boyfriend watches with an empty and sometimes anxious look in the eyes. It's kind of like, 'bring spouse to work' day.The mood is changing throughout the film, with a rather desolate ending, or rather, endings as everyone goes their ways - they move on. The contrast is what brings surrealism to the screen. One minute you're watching a hardcore cream-pie scene (the works), where the lady is being treated like a dog and the next minute the same lady is on the phone with her mum, cooking dinner and taking advice. 'The real name of the film is "Extreme Violations", but don't let the ladies know that, yet.' Otto Bauer (adult performer/director) to his crew while they snicker away. Overwhelming and uncomfortable on many levels.

The hardest part was watching porn actress Audrey Hollander as she's completely condescended by and subservient to her egotistical and trashy husband... I thought at first that maybe she was just less intellectual than I thought, but realized later that she may be on more drugs than they were showing. She looks and acts like a shell of a person and my heart really went out to her near the end, when she was feeling ill on set after using enemas for unnatural things and her so called "husband" (who speaks for and controls her like a pimp) tells her to just "shake it off" and have a beer because she's due for another scene shortly. Then when she does this very hard core scene and is choked greatly by a very large man, she sits there with her eyes closed looking like she's about to die from receiving the worst beating ever! So, so sad... When the credits roll and they recap where everyone is a year later, all they have to say about Audrey is; "Audrey is better...". If that isn't the ultimate and purest form of abuse by one's self and the one they call "husband" caught on film, I don't know what is. I still feel it has a double meaning, where the creators also meant it to mean; "Audrey is better... than her controlling, masochistic husband" or even "Audrey is better... than all of this." I dare anyone who watches porn to watch this movie and read the true stories on www.shelleylubben.com and not feel complete remorse for the emotionally and physically abused women in this industry. I am personally shocked and disgusted. What I've learned (or already knew): - no amount of money is worth seriously hurting yourself or others... - real love means not asking for anything in return... - if something seems off or odd, it is... - we all have the power to control our own lives and obtain what we wish for... - treat others with respect and you'll get so much more back in return...P.S. - My heart goes out to all the women in this industry and especially you, Audrey. If you ever read this, it would do you well to really consider and digest the thoughts and lessons learned above.

This is not the first documentary I have seen which sets out to demystify the porn business and show audiences the people and places behind the fantasy displayed by the products at the center of the bloated-cash-cow industry. However, I would say this is one of the best.I believe the mark of quality for any portrait of the adult entertainment industry which is trying to exist outside the realm of and classification as actual pornography is how un-erotic it comes across to the viewer. As a heterosexual male who in no way feels above being stimulated by the sort of visuals common to modern pornography (and portrayed, albeit mostly with tasteful obscurity, in this film), I am happy to report that "9 to 5..." did not stir up any sort of sensuality within me as I watched it. I liked the way the director would mostly set up the shots to avoid the harder-core facets of what he was filming, but would occasionally, throughout the film, allow certain things to go more noticed, still keeping them minimized and "non-pornographic" in their framing. There are things shown in this film which would never be allowed in an R-rated film, and would probably even be denied the courtesy of an NC-17 by the MPAA if it really came down to it, but the way they are portrayed is done in just the right way to prevent ones attention from being distracted (or diverted towards watching this DVD for "other purposes"). But, do beware... this is not the type of movie you want to watch with your uptight family, your child, or mixed company -- even though the explicit footage is not tasteless, it is there, so if real sex is not something you want to see in a film, avoid this or watch it with someone who can handle the fast-forward-button censorship for you.The directing, editing, and overall stylization of this film are very well done. I liked the "portraits" of the subjects. Otto and his wife and John Stagliano especially really had their souls (or lack thereof) shine through in these shots. I could imagine the director asking the subjects to stand there and look into the camera for an awkward minute or two, but these set-ups greatly contributed to the personalities portrayed.This film managed to remain entertaining, while avoiding titillation, for a solid 2 hours. The key asset to that is how light-handed the tone is. Nothing is played for laughs. Nothing is played for sympathy. Conversely, nothing is played to try and make us think these people's lives are better than we give them credit for. Everything that is funny in this movie, every opinion we might have about the subjects, whether they're secretly miserable or envious or whatever we might think while watching this movie, I have to believe, was in no way manufactured by the filmmaker, and I think that is paramount to a good documentary. We see how these people live and work -- nude bodies engaged in extreme sex acts are just like computers and telephones at any other job. But throughout the duration of the movie, I never felt as if anybody's opinion was being forced on me, or any sort of advocacy for or against pornography was shining through. Things were very neatly presented as they are, and I think whatever you take away from this movie (believing the porn business ruins people's lives, or believing it is "just a business we need in society," or whatever you might think) says more about what you already thought than what you saw in this movie.I find the behind-the-scenes reality of the porn business fascinating and watch/read just about all the material I find on the subject. The way this movie balanced rawness with tastefulness, and frankness with fantasy, really makes it stand out as an exemplary piece on the subject.